Enid Campbell

Professor Enid Mona Campbell, AC, OBE, BEc, LLB(Hons), PhD, LLD, FASSA (30 October 1932 – 20 January 2010) was an Australian legal scholar, and was the first female professor and Dean of a law school in Australasia. She is known for her work on constitutional law and administrative law, as well as her contribution to legal education.

Early life and education

Born in Launceston, Tasmania on 30 October 1932, to Neil and Mona Campbell, she was educated there at Methodist Ladies' College, where she was Dux. She went on to obtain a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Tasmania, where she resided at Jane Franklin Hall. She graduated with first class honours, winning the University Medal as top of her class, and was subsequently admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Tasmania.

Upon graduating in 1955, she won a scholarship to undertake a PhD at Duke University in the United States. Her doctoral studies at Duke examined the work of 19th Century legal philosopher John Austin, a thesis which enabled her to discuss the law from the perspectives of political philosophy, international law and comparative politics.